Embrace Your Emotions,
Elevate Your Leadership
Do you want to make a difference?
Do you care deeply and feel sometimes overwhelmed,
when you see what is going in the world?
Would you like to feel more energized and empowered
to contribute to positive change?
Embrace your deep care as your power,
Strengthen your authentic voice,
Gather the support and the energy that you need,
To make a difference in the world, your way.
This two-month course shows you how to cultivate and sustain your capacity to make a difference in the world. It will help you to embrace your deeply caring feelings as your superpower, and enable you to show up and bring your important work to the world. By the end of the course, you will be more grounded, have more energy and practical tools for self-care and a community to support you as bring your leadership into the world, your way.
This course is designed for eight people, who are ready to go on this journey.
You will learn concepts that you can put into practice right away through exercises, self-reflection and interaction. This enables you to grow together with a small group of like-minded people in a safe space, where you share, connect and learn, and build the foundation of a support network that continues to nurture you.
Dear Reader,
I am writing to you to invite you to join this course.
This page might be a little longer than you would expect and it is for a reason: I would like to give you the information that you need to see if this course is a good fit for you. I recommend that you take your time reading this, savour it and feel into it.
If you are here,
you are likely someone who cares deeply and would like to make a difference in the world.
You see what is going around you, perhaps more intensely than most people do and you would like to do something about it.
You see so many opportunities to make things better, kinder, calmer, more balanced, more respectful, more inclusive. You know you have a voice, yet you do not use it fully. You know you have an opinion, yet you do not raise it. You know that your contribution would make a big difference, yet you are not putting yourself fully into it.
I have been in this situation for years. As someone who has a lot of compassion for suffering, I have been on a path to find my authentic voice, to articulate it and raise it. It has not been easy, as often it did not represent the mainstream way of thinking and it was hard to find like-minded people who cared about the same, or as deeply as I did. It was challenging to find role models or communities, who were speaking out in a way that resonated with me. And it was also difficult to keep going, when it took a lot of energy to be involved with something that you care so much about. For years I was searching for my way and saw others around me struggling with the same.
I knew things needed to change.
I knew that the time I spent struggling with this, can be putting a toll on my resilience and well-being. I knew that every environment, where I am not at my place and every interaction where I do not express myself fully, can bring me further and further away from who I am. Silencing my inner voice and making it more and more difficult to connect to it. And the more difficult it is to connect to my inner voice, the less my life is guided by my intuition and my inner knowing.
The turning points came step by step as I built up practices during the years to ground myself and to understand myself better. I was working with coaches and with groups of people who were on a similar journey. I worked as a sustainability advisor and on topics like diversity and inclusion in human resources, and also with various organisations, protecting animals and nature. Step by step I moved into these areas, allowing more of my voice to come and showing personal leadership the way it felt right for me.
Every time I took a step, such as deciding to apply for the Member’s Council of the national animal welfare organization or published my first blog and shared my work broader, has been a step forward. A leap of faith and trust.
I experienced first-hand that it is not easy to go this alone. This course, that I created based on my experiences and what I saw was working for me and for others, could have helped me so much on my journey. The support of a group of people, who go through the same; a facilitator who has experience with this, and a safe and calm space to understand yourself better and nurturing your capacity to make a change in the world.
What change would you like to bring into the world?
Is it your time to step into your power?
If you are here: this could be your time to show up
If you are here, this could be the time for you to make a difference. Perhaps something is pushing you to create the impact in the world that deep inside you know you are capable of, and you see that it is necessary.
- Maybe you had a wake-up call; a major shift in your life.
- Maybe you finally had enough of all the destruction you see happening, and it is time to bring change, time to say ‘enough’.
- Maybe you have been working on this since a long time, and with the start of this new year, you now want to take things to a new level.
This could be it, if you feel it: it is time.
And you do not want to go this alone. You would like the kind of support that goes beyond the books and the self-help exercises that you did before. You know there might be areas of yourself you do not see, hidden gems of talent and passion, or deep-seated emotions, that need to be discovered, understood and reconnected. You know you thrive in a space that is safe, trusted and warm.
Where you can reflect, go at your own pace and where you are gently challenged and invited to play bigger, to use your voice to ignite change.
✨ In a safe space, magic happens. ✨
You benefit most of this course, if you are at this point:
- You already have some clarity on what you care about and where you want to make a difference. You have a topic in mind (like caring for the Earth or advocating for diversity) or a concrete project or contribution that you would like to bring to the world.
- You already know what (some of) your gifts and talents are.
- You have already (tried to) take steps on your own, perhaps with self-help books, TED-talks or chewing this over with your friends. You are at a point where you realize that there is something much more personal and substantial needed to get you to the next level.
- You want to get here:
- You understand and embrace the feelings that you have and how to think about them so that you can harness their power. You start to see possibilities and have more energy.
- You are learning and using tools of self-care, to nurture you as you are taking steps to contribute to causes that matter to you.
- You start show up more consciously and intentionally with your voice and find places and people that support you in this.
How can this course support you?
- Participants of previous events where I shared the methods and tools that we will be learning about, said that these have ‘a simple elegance’, allowing for deep work. They appreciated the ‘safe and warm space’ that I held for them, that was ‘very, very calming‘. They said that the discussions ‘made space for the emotions‘ that they were holding. The were asking for a follow-up and this is how this course was born.
- For me, when I found one of the main methods we will be working with, it felt like coming home. It opened my eyes to the power of working together as a group and I am humbled that I can pass it on and share it with people.
- This course first helps you to ground yourself more firmly and teaches you ways you can take care of yourself as you face this challenging task. Then it helps you to embrace that you care deeply and shows you how you can use that power to take steps. It opens your eyes to new possiblities on how to show up in the world and enables you to go forward with renewed energy.
I would like to acknowledge the great thinkers whose work has been a source of inspiration and insight for this course:
Elaine N. Aron, the founders of the Co-Active Coaching Model (Henry Kimsey-House, Karen Kimsey-House, Philip Sandahl, Laura Whitworth), Joanna Macy, Dr. Chris Johnstone, Thich Nhat Hahn and Barbara Sher
If you are here, reading this, there is a chance that this course is for you...
… so introducing the details of what it will be about:
- This is a two-month course, held online with Zoom. It consists of four sessions and one follow-up session.
- It is a highly interactive course which is all about you experiencing and putting into practice what you learn. It provides a lot of space for reflection, by yourself and together with others.
Learning together is key – you fully benetfit from being together with like-minded people in a safe space. After each session, you will have exercises to reflect on at home and share your learnings (as much as you want) in the next session. This way, the group keeps on learning together.
Your learning can be further enhanced by having private coaching sessions with me. This is how it can look like:
- You will have my personal attention and we can work on the exact challenges and opportunities that you have. We can explore what your inner voice is telling you, what your values are and your deepest longing is. This depth, combined with the the learning you get from the group, could bring you even further on your path and you will have a deeper understanding of yourself and likely progress faster.
- We will have a coaching session before the course, so that you are starting off with a good foundation, learning more about yourself. Thereafter we will have a session after each group meeting, where we integrate what you learned and work further on your personal challenges and plan.
- We will also have a coaching session after the course is finished, to work out your detailed plan of action and support you with tools that you need to bring your work into the world.
This is a group course, with the possibility
to receive personal coaching support:
Option 1:
Group course
Option 2:
Group course
& Personal coaching
- 2-months course
- Four sessions, one session approximately every two weeks
- Exercises in between sessions
- A follow-up session, a few weeks after the course, to support you further on your journey
- 2-months course
- Four sessions, one session approximately every two weeks
- Exercises in between sessions
- A follow-up session, a few weeks after the course, to support you further on your journey
- Personal coaching sessions:
- six sessions, 60 minutes per session
- first session before the course, after each group session and after the follow-up session
- These sessions are tailored to facilitate your transformation and enhance your learning, to increase your self-awareness, and your resilience.
- Benefit of learning with the group
- 2-3 hours of work per week (including the group sessions)
- Benefit of learning with the group
- 3-4 hours of work per week (including the group sessions and the coaching sessions)
- Personal attention and support; deeper learning
If you are new to coaching, a brief overview on how it can benefit you:
Personal coaching means one-on-one coaching sessions, when all the attention is on you, the challenges you face and where you want to go. A study of the International Coaching Federation (that I am a member of), shows that 80% of people who received coaching gained more self-confidence and 70% improved their relationships, performance at work and communication skills. If you want to read about my way of coaching, you can visit the Coaching page or contact me with your questions.
Coaching as part of this course will help you to see in more detail what you want to achieve and which unique strengths you have. You will take greater accountability and will likely progress faster. Below you can read how coaching has helped one of the coachees I worked with.
A happy coachee
From the start, I felt that she genuinely cared about my progress and feelings, which I greatly appreciated.
Lilla's reflective listening and calm energy deepened my realizations and allowed me to engage fully in the process. I found her guidance to be supportive and nurturing, creating a safe space for exploration.
Overall, I am incredibly grateful for Lilla's support, which enabled me to make significant changes.
As I wrote them down, I found myself thinking, 'Has it really only been less than three months since we started working together?' The list of changes felt more like the result of a year of coaching."
This course is for you, if you are:
- Commited to make a difference
- Looking to embrace your caring nature and deep emotions, and discover why they are your superpower
- Keen to learn more about yourself and reconnect with your inner wisdom
- Looking for inspiration and positive challenge to grow
- Interested to learn new ways to take care of yourself, to calm yourself and increase your resilience
- Longing for a community of people who also feel deeply and who are going through the same
More specifically, this is for you if:
- You can dedicate the time for the group sessions, the exercises in between and the coaching sessions.
- You resonate with the following values: privacy, safety, confidentiality, well-being, trust and courage. These are the values we hold up as a community. You will help us during the course to create a space where these values are upheld and respected.
- You are ok with communicating in email about the course work and the questions you might have. With those who will have personal coaching sessions, we can also have contac via our phones (for emergency and eventual rescheduling purposes).
- In case you would like to give feedback or you have ideas, you are welcome to share them in email or via a simple online form.
- You appreciate that the intention is that the community learns together. We will share insights, questions and aha-moments at the beginning of the session, that will deepen our understanding. You are welcome to share what you are comfortable with. What you share, will remain in the group, in confidence. We build a community that hears you, appreciates you and can continue to support you.
It is also important to mention, what this program is not:
- A completely worked out, detailed map on how to turn your ideas into a project plan or an organization or another endeavour. This course focuses on empowering you to bring your leadership into the world.
- A setting for therapy or a replacement of therapy. By therapy I mean dealing with and looking at past trauma, events in your life that has shaken you and left their mark. This course is not aimed at processing traumatic events, which might require a different setting and a different approach. What this course can support you with is for example recognizing and naming the feeling that you experience when you hear about or see environmental destruction. The course is not meant to and does not require you to re-live the experience. It only looks with you at what you feel and what the impact of that is, and helps you reframe it. If you have questions about this point, feel free to contact me via the Contact page to discuss.
- A place for tough love. The approach and ambiance of the course is that all participants are guided and supported through mutual respect and understanding, challenging and encouraging in a positive way.
- A solution to avoid and never needing to experience deep and heavy emotions again. The course enables you to transform your thinking and experience around deep emotions, turning it into your superpower you can harness.
- A change that happens by itself. The course will require your commitment, work and willingness to open up (some) parts of yourself, to show up and engage. You are, as each of us, a contributor to the course experience, the space that we hold for each other.
When this course will be held:
Dates of the sessions:
1st of April,
15th of April,
6th of May,
20th of May 2025.
Date of the follow-up session: 24th of June
All sessions will be on a Tuesday evening, between 19:30 – 21:30 CET time.
The coaching sessions will take place at a time that suits both of us, within the CET timezone.
Registration for the course is open until the 19th of March 2025.
Before the first session, there will be some pre-work. So if you are interested to join, make sure that you have enough time to reflect and complete the pre-work to take with you to the session.
If this course sounds interesting, you can ask any further questions or sign up here:
This how the course will flow:
Preparation
Before the first session, you will receive a few exercises and resources to reflect on the topic and / or the project you will bring to the course. If you choose to have personal coaching sessions, we will have the first coaching session.
Four sessions
During the first session we will get to know each other and start with the first step of the method. Each session will focus on one of the steps of the method. After each session you will receive a few exercises and questions to further work on in your own time.
In between the sessions
In the weeks between sessions, you will work on your exercises. You will also have your private coaching sessions, that follow the pace of your learning and give you personal support.
Period for reflection and deepening
After the fourth group session, you will have a period of a number of weeks, to take further steps on your plan. Depending on how far you are, you can take this time to further reflect and engage with people or find out more information. The main purpose is that you are putting into practice what you have learnt.
Follow-up session
We come together for a follow-up, after about a month of the fourth session. We share our learnings and our challenges with putting the plans into practice and further support each other. After the follow-up session, there is one more private coaching session, to integrate all of the learnings.
Possibility for further support
There is a possibility to support your on your journey beyond this course. It could be via private coaching, occassional check-in sessions or in another form. If you are interested, we can discuss what would be most beneficial for you.
Price
Price of the group course: € 249.
Price of the group course, including the coaching sessions: € 549.
This includes VAT (21% in The Netherlands).
What more will you get in this course?
This course will empower you and nurture your capacity to make a difference in the world.
To further support you in bringing your plans to reality, I offer course participants a 20% discount from the first six coaching sessions that they follow after the course.
As you put your plans into practice after the course and feel you would love to have some support, you are welcome to contact me.
A big benefit of coaching together after the course is that we already know each other and have walked part of your journey together. If you are interested in this opportunity, we will set up a discussion and talk through your questions and you can feel into if we would be a good match to coach together. If you would like to hear more about coaching with me, you can visit the Coaching page.
This offer is about 20% off of the price of coaching at that future time when we will start to coach together. This offer is valid for 1 year after the course start date. If you contact me with the wish to coach together within one year of the start date of the course, then the discount is applicable.
FAQ
How many people will participate in the course?
We would like to create a safe and intimate space where we can connect with each other and there is enough time and space for each of our voices to be heard. There will be place for 8 participants on the course.
How do we create a safe space during the sessions?
This is something we will create together, through the values we hold up and agreements that we make at the beginning on how we show up during the sessions. There will be no recordings made, to ensure everyone’s privacy.
How will the coaching take place?
Personal coaching will take place via Zoom (with or without camera) or via a phone call (without camera) on WhatsApp.
If this course sounds interesting, you can ask any further questions or sign up here:
Would you like to get a taste of the course?
Would you like to experience how it is to be in the sessions together, what the exercises are like and feel into the ambiance?
You are invited to join a 2-hour workshop that introduces the methodology and teaches you some of the core concepts and the key tools used in the course. You can experience the benefits of an open, safe, trusted environment, where you are encouraged and have the space to reflect, look at some of your emotions and take steps toward your vision.
This workshop gives you a good foundation to see what the course will be like. It is also a standalone learning experience, that will teach you valuable concepts and give you tools that you can apply right away, even if you do not participate in the course.
Date of the workshop:
- 31st of January 2025 (Friday).
Please sign up before the 25th January, so that you have time to prepare before the workshop. I will ask you to think about which topic you will bring to the workshop.
The workshop will be held on Zoom, at 19:30 – 21:30 (CET time zone).
More workshop dates will likely be added.
The price of the workshop: € 45.
If you have any questions about the workshop, you can contact me.
If you are interested in the workshop, you can ask any further questions or sign up here:
P.S.:
Thank you for reading this invite!
I hope that this page has given you a good picture of what the course will be about and whether it will be a good fit for you.
Summarizing the key points:
- This course is for eight people who care deeply and want to make a difference in the world. Who would like to show personal leadership their way.
- The course provides you with the space to embrace your deep care for the world and meet like-minded people who can support you in your journey. It gives you practical tools for self-care and empowers and energises you to bring your contribution into the world.
I am happy to be of service and answer any questions you might have about the course and my work in general. You can read further about my background and my blog and can reach out to me if you wish.
